"So we agree on this, right, Naruto? You are not going. You are not going after Sasuke anymore. The promise is null and void. There's no sense since neither of us want him back anymore," Sakura said as Naruto just nodded in agreement.

"So Naruto is staying here, apparently, but where are we going to stay while he finishes recovering? Rin is also going to need time before she is able to walk on her own as well," Ryo asked.

"You all do not have to worry about somewhere to stay because you are friends of Naruto. I will let each of you stay in here as my guests just like he is. You and Rin can use the guest rooms too. They are not that far from here," Haruna told them.

"Thanks, your Highness," Rin said as she did her best to bow while on Gamakichi's back while Ryo just said thanks.

"You do not have to refer to me as your Highness or anything thing like that. You can just call me Haruna, okay?" the brown hair ruler said to her.

"So where I am going to stay? You only mentioned Ryo and Rin," Sakura asked curiously.

"Sakura, you are staying in the guest room as well," she replied.

"Why do you have we have to stay away from Naruto? I am sure I noticed three rooms nearby where we are now," the pink hair girl asked.

"One of those is my room the other belongs to my parents while the third is a VIP room sorts of like this one," Haruna told her.

"Let me guess, this room is right next to yours," Sakura said. A jealous feeling popped in her heart, knowing that she was not going to be close to Naruto. Whenever staying with Daimiyos before, they were always roomed right next to each other.

"I see nothing wrong with that. Naruto is a very important VIP to m…I mean, to this country. He deserves this room," Haruna told them. The silent glaring contest began between Sakura and her with big fake smiles plastered on both their faces since they did not want fight in front of a recovering Naruto.

"So, Naruto, I…." Haruna started to say before the door then opened up to reveal one of Haruna's advisors standing on the other end of it.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, your Highness. There is an issue that requires your immediate attention," the advisor informed her.

"Surely it can wait just few minutes. As I you can see, I'm with Naruto here," Haruna said to them.

"I know, your Highness. We all now just how important your time with Naruto-sama is, thus we wouldn't normal bother you. It's about that, you see," the advisor said, placing emphasizes on the word 'that'.

"Very well, if you will excuse me, everyone. I must be going; however, I will be back later, Naruto, so please do not try to push yourself, alright? Enjoy the ramen! I made a special kind I learned from girl named Ayame," Haruna told him.

"Sure," the blond responded as the ruler of Land of Vegetables left with her advisor to attend to issue that required her attention.

"Alright then, now that my story about how I got in this condition is finished, do you want to know about what been going on with Kakashi-sensei in the twenty years you were stuck as a statue?" Naruto asked Rin.

"But how did you know I was turned to stone for that long? I do not remember me or Ryo telling you," Rin asked with a confused look on her face.

"The fact that you are Kakashi's teammate that disappeared twenty years ago and you are still twelve means that you were subject to jutsu that freezes a person in that particular moment in time. Also the left over charka from a petrifaction jutsu still within your system would make so that it's hard for you walk. I experienced something like that once when my leg was reverted back to normal after being turned to stone," he told her.

With that cleared up, Naruto then went about giving her a brief history lesson of the last twenty years.

"You are lying to me, right?" Rin asked. Once again, she had almost spilt off the toad summon from the shock of learning that Kakashi had become a person that was chronically late and always gave crappy excuse for why. She could not believe that was the same person that used to get on her when she was only five minutes late while he kept his own team and others waiting for hours before even showing up.

"So, Sakura, you are one of Tsunade-sama's apprentices. I did not think she would ever take any other apprentice then Shizune," Rin said amazed as she tried to become the Sanin's student once and was shot down.

"I did train under Tsunade-sensei for nearly three years to become stronger, yet it was not enough. In the end, I still needed Naruto to save me," the pink haired Chunin said as she hung her head down, ashamed of herself.

"That was not your fault, Sakura. It was mine. You are strong really strong now, so much in fact, that I was amazed at the sheer amount of strength you gained while I was gone. It's just I made the wrong decision in leaving you and Chiyo behind to face Sasori all by yourself," Naruto told her as he became depressed in remembering what that decision led to.

"Sasori…Sasori of Red Sand?" Rin asked as she face when pale.

"You know about the guy or something?" Ryo asked, curious because she got a curious look from Naruto and Sakura as well.

"Of course, it was Sasori of the Red Sand that Kakashi's father and teammates almost died fighting during a mission. Though, the ungrateful bastards got mad at him for saving their lives rather then just leaving their ungrateful asses behind and completing the mission they were told, since it was a mission into Suna territory," Rin spoke with disgust. After Obito's death, she looked managed to find the mission report for that failed mission.

"So, Rin, do you want Gamakichi to take you back to Konoha?" Naruto asked and Rin just sadly shook her head no

"I cannot go back there. It's not like I can just walk to the front gate and say, 'Hi, I am back from failed mission that left me a statue for two decades before finally being changed back to normal.' Like they would really believe something like that. Also, I am supposed to thirty two years old, but look at me! I am still the same twelve year old girl I was twenty years ago. If I go back, I might be considered an impostor or missing nin since I am sure know nobody knows what really happened to me," the girl explained.

"I heard a rumor about Sasori once before leaving Konoha for my last mission that he takes his victims and turns them into human puppets while they are still alive. Did he do that to you, Sakura, and somehow Naruto is animating your body and is hiding your true appearance?" Rin asked. She managed to piece this together from what she knew about Sasori, her first meeting with Sakura where she was completely unresponsive, and what Naruto had told her just now.

"You see, the thing is that…" Naruto tried to explain since he did not want anyone to know that Sakura was just an animated human puppet at the moment if they did not need to, but he was stopped.

Sakura herself told the brown hair girl. "Yes, Naruto saved me from being just another human puppet in Sasori's arsenal and I am currently able to move around and talk thanks to the combined effects of Naruto, Ryo, and Jiraiya making a seal for me," Sakura told her.

"Also, according to Naruto, that bastard Sasori thought since I, along with a woman named Chiyo, managed to destroy his two favorite puppets, that he would turn me into their replacement by giving me the tail from one and the black sand of other one," she explained, showing the black sand. It appeared as an orb in her hand and that her 'belt' was really a tail that she just kept around her waist.

"What do you mean 'According to Naruto'? Don't you remember that fight yourself?" Rin asked curiously.

Sakura then shook her head no, replying "I cannot remember anything beyond going to bed the night after me and Naruto had ramen with Kakashi-sensei after successfully taking the bell from him during our second attempt at the bell test."

"The bell test; I remember that one myself. Our sensei did that to us too where I…ummm…passed out after getting caught in genjutsu, and well, let's just say that it wasn't one of my better moments," Rin said.

"Let me guess, you saw a severely injured image of a crush coming towards you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, that…I mean….Okay, you're right. I did, but how did you know that?" the Kakashi's former teammate asked.

"Same thing happened to me and I passed out again after waking up and seeing my crush trapped by the headhunter jutsu," the pink haired Chunin sighed.

"Well, Rin, what are you going to do now since you are not going to return to Konoha? Are you going to try and stay here or something?" Ryo asked.

"I would like to travel with you all. I want to repay Ryo for giving me my life back and maybe learn from Sakura what Tsunade-sama taught her?" Rin asked. She was not sure if they would allow her to stay with them or not.

"This is not going to be easy trip, you know. If you stay with us, there is a group after me and Ryo," Naruto said.

"I am sure. I am good with medical jutsu, and with me and Sakura along, you have someone else that can heal you and Ryo when you two get injured," Rin said.

"Ummm…Rin, I cannot use my medical jutsu to heal anyone other then me. I can't, nor am I sure if I could teach someone," Sakura told her, not sure of her ability to teach anyone.

"You will do fine, Sakura. You were always the smartest member of our team and remember how you helped me during with tree climbing and all those other times you explained something I did not understand?" Naruto told her.

"Okay then, I'll give it a shot, but I don't know how much I could teach you though," Sakura replied.

"Right, Sakura-sensei," Rin said to her. However, this got a strange reaction for the pink haired Chunin. Here was someone calling her sensei, that despite looking twelve, was almost twice her age. But then again, she was currently a human puppet animated by Naruto's and her own charka.

"Though, there's something that I've been wondering. Just who could be after Ryo? Naruto, I could see because the rumor twenty years ago said that there was a person who was looking for tailed beasts or those that contained them," Rin asked curiously.

"Ummm…you see, the thing is, Rin, I am one of the nine tailed demons. The three tailed turtle demon to be exact," he told her.

"Really? I always thought that demons would be older then what you look like in their human form," Rin said once she got over the shock.

"Hey, it's not my fault! I am the youngest of the nine, you know," Ryo told her.

"So, Naruto, where are we going next after you recover?" Sakura asked.

"I am not too sure about that yet," Naruto sighed. He was still thinking about what move would be the best to make next in trying to restore Sakura to her normal self.

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I would like to thank:

DinoboyKingofallDinosaurs, Demon95, movintarget, bfavregb1, for reviewing my story

Spirit117 for reviewing Chapter 11

Takaiteishu Naruto, morogoth, adlex47, reader ninja, and Jeale for adding this to their Story Alert List

Takaiteishu Naruto, darnod, full metal ninja Naruto, reader ninja, spirit117, kawaii97, BusterSword99, and Quagomay, for adding this to their favorite story list